NURS 6512 Week 3 Child Health Case Study: Assessing Children’s Nutrition

NURS 6512 Week 3 Child Health Case Study: Assessing Children’s Nutrition

In the United States, there is a significant increase in the number of children who are overweight, mainly because of what they eat. Let’s look at an example where we have an 8-year-old boy in foster care who is overweight, and this can lead to health problems related to what he eats. This child is likely consuming too many calories and not getting enough exercise, which causes him to gain excess weight (Stanford & Fitch, 2019). Also, because his biological parents are overweight, there might be some genetic factors that make him more likely to have diseases related to being obese. From a nutrition point of view, we need to examine what he eats now and figure out how to help him make healthier choices. This means reducing the amount of high-calorie and low-nutrient foods he eats, eating more fruits and vegetables, and making sure he gets enough protein for growing and staying healthy (Backstrom, 2019). Doing physical activities regularly is also important for his health and to reduce the problems that come with being too heavy. It’s also important to deal with any emotional or mental factors that might be making him overweight, like stress or feeling sad. By looking at both his nutrition and mental health, healthcare providers can help improve the child’s health, get him to a healthy weight, and lower the risk of health problems linked to being overweight.

Answers to Questions about the Case

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Health Problems and Dangers

Because of his condition, the child is at risk for many health problems. Wright and Kupietzky (2018) say that children who are obese, like this boy, are more likely to have different health issues. These include things like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep problems, issues with their joints, and mental health problems like having low self-esteem and feeling very sad. Since he is already overweight, it’s possible that he has trouble joining in with physical activities, and asking him to do more can make it even harder. Not being able to do these activities can make the boy feel left out from other kids who are more active, and this can affect how well he does in school, making him do worse because he might feel lonely, have low self-esteem, and not have much confidence (Faintuch & Faintuch, 2020). If his family has a history of diseases linked to obesity, then the risks are even higher. This is why it’s important to start helping the child with his weight as soon as possible, so things don’t get worse, and he can start learning good habits that will help him even when he’s an adult.

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Additional Information Needed

From a medical point of view, the information in this case is not enough to understand everything about the child’s situation. To know more, we need to find out the child’s current weight and height, body mass index (BMI), whether there are people in his family who have diseases related to being overweight, what he eats, how much exercise he gets, and if there are any medical problems or medicines that could be making him gain weight. Faintuch J and Faintuch S (2020) think that if we look carefully at all these things, we can understand better if there are any health problems he might have and plan how to treat them.

Other Risks to Think About

Being overweight brings a lot of risks, as we talked about earlier. But there are other things that can make the child’s health worse, like his genes, not eating well, not moving much, and where he lives. For a full understanding of the child’s health, we need to know how he feels inside, how his family works, and where he comes from. Getting this information can help us see what he eats and how he thinks about moving around. Healthcare providers can get this by talking to the child, the people who take care of him, and others who are close to him.

Questions to Ask Specifically

When healthcare providers, the people who take care of the child, and clinicians gather information about the 8-year-old foster child, they should be careful to ask questions in a way that doesn’t make the child’s family feel bad or judged (Backstrom, 2019). This is because if they think someone is saying something bad about how they look after the child or how much the child weighs, they might not want to listen or do what the healthcare provider says. So, we need to be understanding and ask questions like:

– What foods does the child really like?
– How does the child feel about his weight?
– Does the child’s family or culture have any special foods or activities that might be making the child less healthy?

These questions can help us learn more about the child’s habits and how he feels about food and moving around. With this information, we can give the child advice that fits his needs.

Ways to Help Parents Take Action

It can be very hard to get parents or the people who take care of the child to do things to help the child be healthier. Stanford and Fitch (2019) have some ideas about how we can do this. We can tell them about the dangers of kids being too heavy and why it’s important to eat well and move around. Another thing we can do is give them information about how to plan meals that are healthy and have good exercises. The child should also be part of the decision-making, so he can set goals and see how he’s doing on the way to being healthier. This way, we can work together to make sure the child has a good and healthy life.

References

Backstrom, L. (2019). Weighty Problems: Embodied Inequality at a Children’s Weight Loss Camp. Rutgers University Press.

Faintuch, J., & Faintuch, S. (Eds.). (2020). Obesity and diabetes: scientific advances and best practice. Springer International Publishing.

Stanford, F. C., & Fitch, A. K. (2019). Pediatric obesity: a focus on treatment options. Frontiers in pediatrics, 7, 177.

Wright, G. Z., & Kupietzky, A. (Eds.). (2018). Behavior management in dentistry for children. John Wiley & Sons case study assignment: assessment of nutrition in children.

CASE STUDY ASSIGNMENT: ASSESSMENT OF NUTRITION IN CHILDREN

When seeking to identify a patient’s health condition, advanced practice nurses can use a diverse selection of diagnostic tests and assessment tools; however, different factors affect the validity and reliability of the results produced by these tests or tools. Nurses must be aware of these factors in order to select the most appropriate test or tool and to accurately interpret the results.

Not only do these diagnostic tests affect adults, body measurements can provide a general picture of whether a child is receiving adequate nutrition or is at risk for health issues. These data, however, are just one aspect to be considered. Lifestyle, family history, and culture—among other factors—are also relevant. That said, gathering and communicating this information can be a delicate process.

For this Assignment, you will  consider examples of children with various weight issues. You will explore how you could effectively gather information and encourage parents and caregivers to be proactive about their children’s health and weight.

TO PREPARE

• Review this week’s Learning Resources and consider factors that impact the validity and reliability of various assessment tools and diagnostic tests. You also will review examples of pediatric patients and their families as it relates to BMI.
  • Based on the risks you might identify consider what further information you would need to gain a full understanding of the child’s health. Think about how you could gather this information in a sensitive fashion.
  • Consider how you could encourage parents or caregivers to be proactive toward the child’s health.
  • case study assignment: assessment of nutrition in children

THE ASSIGNMENT

Assignment (3–4 pages, not including title and reference pages):

Assignment: Child Health Case:
Include the following:

• An explanation of the health issues and risks that are relevant to the child you were assigned.
• Describe additional information you would need in order to further assess his or her weight-related health.
• Identify and describe any risks and consider what further information you would need to gain a full understanding of the child’s health. Think about how you could gather this information in a sensitive fashion.
• case study assignment: assessment of nutrition in children
• Taking into account the parents’ and caregivers’ potential sensitivities, list at least three specific questions you would ask about the child to gather more information.
• Provide at least two strategies you could employ to encourage the parents or caregivers to be proactive about their child’s health and weight.

BY DAY 6 OF WEEK 3

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